Maize Grain Yield and Grain Zinc Concentration Response to Zinc Fertilization: A Meta-Analysis
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Date
2023-05-05
Authors
Mutambu, Dominic
Kihara, Job
Mucheru-Muna, Monicah
Bolo, Peter
Kinyua, Michael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cell Press
Abstract
Zinc deficiency in agricultural soils is a current global agroecosystems challenge. Maize exhibits
elevated susceptibility to Zn deficiency and low response to zinc fertilization. As a result, there are
contradicting literature reports on the crop response to zinc fertilization. This meta-analysis
synthesized the current evidence on maize response to zinc fertilization from different studies
and highlighted the potential innovations to improve the crop response to zinc application.
Systematic literature searches were conducted on the Web of Science and Google Scholar for peerreviewed publications. From the selected publications, data extracted were maize grain yield and
maize grain zinc concentration. The meta-analysis was conducted in R statistical environment
using the metafor package. The ratio of means was the chosen effect size measure used. The
assessment of effect size heterogeneity showed that the study effect sizes were significantly
heterogeneous and also publication bias was evident. The analysis showed 17% and 25% maize
grain yield and grain zinc concentration response to zinc fertilization. As a result, zinc fertilization
was associated with yield increments of up to 1 t ha− 1 and 7.19 mg kg− 1 grain zinc concentration
over the control (no zinc application). Despite the observed maize grain response to zinc application, the median concentration of grain Zn was below the 38 mg kg− 1 recommended maize
grain zinc concentration to combat human zinc deficiency (hidden hunger). As a result, potential
innovations likely to achieve sufficient maize grain zinc content were highlighted including the
use of nano-particulate zinc oxide, foliar zinc application, timing of zinc application, precision
fertilization and zinc micro-dosing. Due to scanty literature on the progress of these innovations
in maize, follow-up studies are recommended to evaluate their potential success in the agronomic
bio-fortification of maize with zinc.
Description
Article
Keywords
Maize, Yield, Grain zinc, Response and agronomic bio-fortification
Citation
Mutambu, D., Kihara, J., Mucheru-Muna, M., Bolo, P., & Kinyua, M. (2023). Maize grain yield and grain zinc concentration response to zinc fertilization: A meta-analysis. Heliyon.